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Any chance you have caught any of the HSB this year?
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Joined: Jun 2018
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Joined: Jun 2018
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Snrub any chance you have caught any of the HSB this year. I havnt caught any myself. I do see them (I think) at feeding. All the fish are so fast it's really hard to tell. Also the water clarity still isnt very good since doing more digging. Just curious at the rate of growth of them.
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
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Snrub any chance you have caught any of the HSB this year. I havnt caught any myself. I do see them (I think) at feeding. All the fish are so fast it's really hard to tell. Also the water clarity still isnt very good since doing more digging. Just curious at the rate of growth of them. Here's one my buddies 10 yr old caught from my pond the other day. That fish is 4 years old, was stocked as a 4"-6" fish.
Last edited by esshup; 06/04/21 10:31 PM.
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anthropic |
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I cant wait. When these sucks where just like 6 inches or so they can put up a amazing fight. Landing one of few pounds will be a blast.
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Lunker
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Lunker
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Rusto, I was hoping you would catch one or two this spring just to get an estimate on their growth rate.
Weren't the HSB you put in your pond last fall almost all in the same size class?
Hopefully, you can catch a few this summer on lures after the "spring smorgasbord" has passed!
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Joined: Jun 2018
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Both times iv put them in was the same size yes. They came from the same batch both from Snrubs place. I dont really want them to get hook shy but I want 2 are the growth of them also. I will post a picture if or when it happens. Wish me luck...
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Joined: Oct 2013
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OP
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,088 Likes: 96 |
Have you caught any of he HSB yet?
We didn't end up fishing very much last year, but did catch a few and they looked healthy.
I did not feed last year with the automatic feeder in the main pond, but did some sporadic hand feeding just for fun. I did not always see the HSB come to the feed, but when they did they fed as a school and really attacked it. I could really see a difference in the way they took the feed compared to the BG and CC.
I'm still in Bonaire over wintering but will be home in a couple of weeks. I'll try to catch some and post pictures of their progress.
John
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Lunker
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Lunker
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I'm still in Bonaire over wintering but will be home in a couple of weeks. I'll try to catch some and post pictures of their progress. I think your farm has gotten about 4" of rain in the last 24 hours. If this keeps up, you will be able to don your scuba gear and sit on your patio and observe your HSB up close and personal!
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Joined: Oct 2018
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Guys, I finally caught one of the fish we gathered at snrub's place. 7-8" fish turned into a nice 16", healthy specimen. I think I brought 5 or 6 home. I had a buddy that caught one last summer late that was about 12" but healthy so I know at least 2 survived the 535 mile trip.
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FishinRod |
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I'm still in Bonaire over wintering but will be home in a couple of weeks. I'll try to catch some and post pictures of their progress. I think your farm has gotten about 4" of rain in the last 24 hours. If this keeps up, you will be able to don your scuba gear and sit on your patio and observe your HSB up close and personal! If I was home I could look up a picture and post what the pond looks like when it is about a foot over full pool, has the "bench" on the bench dam covered so the size of the pond probaby gains a half acre, the pipe overflow is screaming and can hear it from our patio, the emergency overflow is running hard and connecting through our back yard to the seasonal stream that runs along the west and south side of the pond and it almost looks like one big body of water with the dam in between. I don't think GSF can get into the pond (we already have them so not a big deal if they do) via the emergency overflow because by the time it reashes the creek through the yard it is less than yard grass deep and is quite a ways, but I also would not put it past a determined one. GSF are tough fish. I do need to get the scuba gear on and clean my air diffusers. But I will wait till the water is warmer! Probably June or July. You can basically see nothing. The best it ever gets you MIGHT be able to see the ends of fingers on an extended hand. That is on a very best day of the year and it looks ultra clear from the surface. On a more normal day start with hand at the mask and start extending it and the sight of fingers will be gone in about a foot or a little more. The only way to see fish, most of the time, is lay on the bottom at the proper depth (where the fish are congregating) and sit as still as possible, not even blinking the eyes excet minimal. Eventually the BG and maybe a CC or bass will get curious enough and will swim in front of the mask where a person can see them. Take some feed down and can get a bunch of small BG feeding. The fish are around because I can feel them tugging on my leg hairs or arm hairs. But they are very leery of eyes in the mask. Fish are not as stupid as we sometimes think they are. They know you are there and they can see you before you can see them under water.
Last edited by snrub; 05/05/22 06:58 AM.
John
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FishinRod |
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Guys, I finally caught one of the fish we gathered at snrub's place. 7-8" fish turned into a nice 16", healthy specimen. I think I brought 5 or 6 home. I had a buddy that caught one last summer late that was about 12" but healthy so I know at least 2 survived the 535 mile trip. Cool! Glad they survived and grew! I'm anxious to see how they are this spring in my ponds. I only wish you would have had room for more of them, but I know your pond size and stocking limited you. I certainly had no shortage! The 500 little inch and a half long fingerlings certainly did quite ok in my forage pond to raise them. I have to figure out what to do with that forage pond this year. There are still a few HSB in there because the very short period I did some hand feeding last year I could get a few up to the top to take some feed. What else is in there I have no idea. I could not believe there were still FHM's when we seined it. We had a good time that day. Thanks again for your extremely helpful oversight of the project. Without you, it never would have got done. Thanks! Stop by again when in the area. For anyone who wants to read about raising HSB from fingerlings to stock in another pond, it is in this thread and starts at the bottom of the page here. https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=547489&page=6
Last edited by snrub; 05/05/22 07:13 AM.
John
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I caught one last year in a throw net. It was somewhere around 10inches at the time. She was a fighter for sure.
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Good deal Rusty. Glad some made it.
I never saw a single floater after we were done, but of course that doesn't mean anything. Something could have cleaned up the dead without me seeing it. Lots of floaters on the other hand would have definitely been bad.
John
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I believe everyone that snipe delivered for me lived. Anyone transferring fish needs to listen to him. Again thank you i had a good time. Cant wait to have my Father in law get ahold of one of these fighters. He is handicap so he dosnt need anything to big. I can guarantee he if he fell in he would have a smile on his face on the way.
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I really enjoyed the whole project.
From the trip to Arkansas to pick them up, the people there at Keo were accomodating for me being just an individual picking up a few fish compared to big commerial fish growers that are their main customers. Showed me around and answered my questions.
Releasing them and raising them was fun. Starting out with the tiniest of feed. Stocking the FHM's early in the season long before I got the HSB and feeding them. Watching them progress in size and the feed size they preferred.
Catching a few as they got big enough to bite a hook and sampling them with a cast net was fun. Man they grew fast!
Then you guys and gal coming over and helping me harvest them - that was great.
It was a positive experience all the way. Will probably never do it again (although as my dad was fond of saying when I as a child and told him in anger I would "never" do something, he would just say "never is a long time"). But am very glad I did it this time.
Last edited by snrub; 05/06/22 08:28 PM.
John
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